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I love the assassins, my favorite GW models since I started playing in second eddition. I still use the old ninja model, my loyal Stormshadow, but in the latest edition he has really been suffering due to the new assault rules. I use him as an eversor or a callidus (Counts as is my friend!) and as an eversor he is still OK if you charge into another squad with support. The callidus though, just hasn't seen as much use.

However, now with the Imperial Guard Psyker battle squad, the Callidus is straight money.

Hit a squad with the negative leadership modifier to reduce them to Ld 6 or less. The Callidus' neural shredder uses a models Ld as their toughness. So now you wound on a 2+ with no cover or armor saving throws allowed.

Aweseomtastic.

A squad of pesky plague marines is sitting on an objective? Hit them with the psykers, the Callidus pops up in perfect position for a template attack and kills 5/6's of them with no cover, armor or feel no pain save, and then can assault with much better odds of survival. If they aren't fearless, they just run away.

Plus, if you know you are going to go first with a high degree of accuracy, word in your ear just got better, too.

Stormshadow is back in the ranks of my guard army, where he belongs!

As a bonus, per the DH faq, if you lower the unit you are hitting with the neural shredder to Ld 4 or less, it causes Instant Death!!

Really? Wow, that is even better!

Yep, this is another nail in the Nob biker's coffin.

This just accomplishes basically the same thing as a chemical cannon hellhound, but more expensive and with 2 units.

airmang wrote:As a bonus, per the DH faq, if you lower the unit you are hitting with the neural shredder to Ld 4 or less, it causes Instant Death!!

As reecius said stright money! (Glad someone else on Dakka uses that term. ) I might have to put one in my DH list and try it out.

ph34r wrote:This just accomplishes basically the same thing as a chemical cannon hellhound, but more expensive and with 2 units.

Not quite, the ability to Instant Death anything (that doesn't have Eternal warrior or Synapse) is HUGE. This will kill anything with more than one wound, and is even better against a squad of such, like Meganobs, Biker nobs, actually any nobs! Oblits, even though they get their 5++ will have to fear this. you can instant death a warboss with this combo! got a carni out of synapse, very good chance of killing it with the callidus/psychic choir combo.

This just accomplishes basically the same thing as a chemical cannon hellhound, but more expensive and with 2 units

Oh really? Wow, I must have missed the rule where a Banewolf could appear anywhere on the board from reserves and then assault in HtH combat, could move an enemy unit before the game, jump out of combat, caused instant death, was the size of an infantry model, or had a psychic power that lowered leadership or could fire a large str 9 blast template.

Dude, you are right, they are exactly the same!

As reecius said stright money! (Glad someone else on Dakka uses that term. ) I might have to put one in my DH list and try it out.

They rock man, the assault rules screwed them up a bit because they die to lots of attacks really easily, but now they have a use again.

Plus, if you go first, move an enemy model into the open and nuke it turn one.

Going second? Move an enemy unit out of LOS so that it can't fire, or push back that nasty squad of nob bikers into terrain so they have to take dangerous terrain tests to get out, etc. It really is a great tool.

This sounds really good, except I don't think Daemonhunters can do it. Aren't their ally options limited to named entries from the IG Codex? Without a FAQ, the Psychic Choir isn't on that list.

For IG to pull the combo, they need to take an Inquisitor Lord HQ, since they are only allowed one Inquisitorial Elite. That denies them access to what I feel is the best option in any IG list that is not 100% mechanized: The second 50 point CHQ squad. I've been putting one in a Chimera with 4x meltas, and giving the other a Standard Bearer and heavy weapon, and I'm in love with them.

The Inquisitor Lord is expensive, but does unlock some new combos of his own, such as the Psychic Hood and the Mystics.... It's a tough choice. But I'm thinking a CHQ + Marbo might be better in a take-all-comers environment than a Inquisitor + Callidus.

Ah yes, you are correct. A straight Daemon Hunter list could not take the choir, but obviously they could take the assassin.

I love the Inquisitor Lord.

for 98 points (which I know isn't cheap) you get an unlimited range Ld10 hood, emperor's tarot, and deepstrike defense. That fills a lot of the gaps in the IG armor.

Plus then you can take the assassin, who is also, really useful.

Too each their own, but they are sort of a staple in my army, I love the buggers.

Sly Marbo is hot sizzle though, I agree. I will be using him for sure.

Reecius wrote:Ah yes, you are correct. A straight Daemon Hunter list could not take the choir, but obviously they could take the assassin.

I love the Inquisitor Lord.

for 98 points (which I know isn't cheap) you get an unlimited range Ld10 hood, emperor's tarot, and deepstrike defense. That fills a lot of the gaps in the IG armor.

Plus then you can take the assassin, who is also, really useful.

Too each their own, but they are sort of a staple in my army, I love the buggers.

Sly Marbo is hot sizzle though, I agree. I will be using him for sure.

How does the Emperor's Tarrot work in the new edition of 40k? Is there still a "roll to see who goes first?" that can benefit from the ability?

I play it the way I played it last ed. You each roll and then modify the roll to see who goes first, which now is also the same roll to deploy.

I don't see an issue with the wording of the rule although I am sure you could argue it if you were so inclined, as you can argue any point.

I just double checked the rule, it says the players dice off to decide who goes first.

That is pretty much clear cut.

even cooler is the PBS+Culexus combo. each member of the PBS counts as a psyker, and gives extra shots to the animus speculum (sp?). To bad you can only take one Officio Assassinorum member, they would realy go well together.

and i remember the old ninjassasain...

I hate to be the buster of bubbles but the Callidus can never instant death anyone. Instant death RAW is solely based around toughness and strength, neither of which is utilized by the neural shredder. This has been FAQ'ed in the past. It is still nasty though and effective. Also. its not like the C'tan phase sword isn't gross as well!

Jpepper4451 wrote:I hate to be the buster of bubbles but the Callidus can never instant death anyone. Instant death RAW is solely based around toughness and strength, neither of which is utilized by the neural shredder. This has been FAQ'ed in the past.

Yes...Yes it has (the way Airmang said it did).

This is surely a nasty combo. It makes mech lists a better defense against the assassin. The one drawback to the assassin is you don't know when they will arrive from reserve. My tactic to defend my best units against them was to keep them buffered with other less critical units.

G

Yeah, but with the new +1 to reserves, you are pretty sure to get them. Plus its not critical really, just wait until the callidus shows up, zonk the offending squad with -9 leader ship, hit them with the flamer of doom and watch them run off the board. If they are fearless, charge.

But yes, mech lists would be largely immune to this.

At 200 points for the Inq Lord and the Assassin, it's definitely pricey, but certain small elite armies or armies that rely on holding objectives with minimal squads of tough troops will have a lot to fear from the Callidus. I personally like it a lot even though I wouldn't utilize it much. If someone were to make a 'best of' highlight reel of their army, though, I think there'd be some awesome WTFDEAD moments courtesy of the Callidus+Choir.

Yeah for sure!

The word in your ear ability is pretty tubular, too. That alone can change the course of a game

I take the Inquis almost every game just for the utility it offers. Unless I know I am playing someone who wont deepstrike or use psychic powers, Inquisitor Lord Razmus is always on the table!

wheres the love for the witch hunter inqs lord come now

"even cooler is the PBS+Culexus combo. each member of the PBS counts as a psyker, and gives extra shots to the animus speculum" -- sadly that doesn't work, as the rules for the PBS specify it counts as ONE psyker all together, like a GK terminator squad. You can still get one for the PBS and one for the Inquis Lord though.

The rules in the upcoming IG codex do not say that the Psychic Battle Squad counts as one psyker, just that you draw LOS from one of the models when using their powers. Heck, if their overseer is dead, they all have to take a hit if they take a perils of the warp test. Each one is specifically called a psycher.

ketsugami wrote:"even cooler is the PBS+Culexus combo. each member of the PBS counts as a psyker, and gives extra shots to the animus speculum" -- sadly that doesn't work, as the rules for the PBS specify it counts as ONE psyker all together, like a GK terminator squad. You can still get one for the PBS and one for the Inquis Lord though.

So, I've been doing some thinking, and while I can't deny that the Calidus + Battle Squad is an awesome combo, I'm not sure if it's worth the sacrifices it entails.

The basic combo demands:

-An HQ slot for the Inquisitor Lord.
-An Elite slot for the Assassin.
-An Elite slot for the Psyker Squad.

But that combo is going to fail disastrously 16.7% of the time: Deploy the Calidus at the beginning of the turn, fail a LD 9 psychic check, and you're kind of boned. So to make this reliable, you're going to need a second Psyker squad. At this point, you've denied yourself access to any other Elites (goodbye Marbo!) in addition to denying yourself access to a 2nd CHQ squad. Of course, you get benefits to compensate, such as the Hood and the "Word in Your Ear," but I'm not sure if it's a worthwhile sacrifice.

That said, I'm going to start playing around with a lone Psyker squad in my next few games, and if they prove themselves competitive without combo support, I'm going to definitely look into this...

You make a good pint, Dave47, but, even if the power doesn't work you still have the template and the assault. So long as the target isn't Ld 10, it still does good damage.

Hell, I used a callidus all 4th edition with no pysker battle squad back up and she was great. All you have to do is survive one round of combat, jump back and hit the target with the template again!

I wouldn't say its the uber build, but it is a damn good and reliable combo as it gives you a lot of special benefits.

Just a clarification to mey earlier post. THe Callidus Assassin will indeed insta-kill a model with Ld of 4 or less according to the latest FAQ. Looks like a reversal on an earlier ruling. More the better.

What I like about this combo is that all the units work well on their own. The Psyker Battle Squad is a must in a competitive environment, the Inquistior Lord is a good defense vs. Bikers, Council and Lash, and the assassin has its uses to.

And if the Psykers fail their test some supporting fire can soften up the target unit for an easy kill for the assassin.